Review of the book Context and Text: A Method for Liturgical Theology, K. W. Irwin, 2018

This article examines the liturgical theology of Archpriest Alexander Schmemann within the context of the 20th-century Russian theological tradition. Russian theologians, already in the 19th and especially in the 20th centuries, were attempting to answer the question, “What is true theology?” They noted the displacement of theology from all spheres of public and private life. In their view, the preceding tradition proved powerless to resist these processes. It was declared contaminated by Western influences and had strayed from the “original” Orthodox path. However, in the process of “returning” to the “original” method of theology, Russian theologians turned to Western concepts of the humanities and the ideas of Russian religious philosophy. These concepts and ideas had already proven effective in polemics against positivism. Russian theologians saw them as suitable for a new methodological shift in theology. Central to them was the idea of ​​experiential knowledge as a union with the knowable. This knowledge differs from objective knowledge. By the time of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, the notion of a theology based on religious experience had become common to many of his colleagues. Church tradition is defined in two ways. On the one hand, church tradition is something expressed in words, images, and church rituals. On the other hand, church tradition is the transmission of the very life of the Church, the continuity of communion with God. In this context, liturgical theology proves essential to showing the way to this communion with God. Liturgical tradition, recorded in rites and texts, proves to be a “scheme” by which one can attain liturgical tradition as a dwelling already now with God in the Kingdom of God. It is precisely this experience of the Church, according to Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, that constitutes the foundation for authentic theology. The author of the article draws attention to the fact that Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann’s theological method is closely connected to the personal religious experience of his youth. Drawing on this experience, Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann makes a distinctive contribution to the methodological research of 20th-century Russian theologians.

Critical realism as a lens of thought is not new to theological inquiry, but recently a growing number of theologians have been using its conceptual frameworks to guide their thought on how social structures function theologically, and how ethics might function in light of its insights. This article pulls these developments into the nexus of liturgy and ethics, applying critical realist categories to contemporary understandings of how liturgical celebration (and the structures thereof) form, inform, and/or malform Christian ethical imaginations and practices. The article begins with a brief survey of the main tenets of critical realism and their histories in theological inquiry, and argues that a main gift critical realism can offer liturgical and sacramental theology is a structural understanding of liturgical narrative- and value-building. Having described this gift, the article moves to a concrete application of this method in liturgical theology and its implications for ethics: addressing consumerism as a culture that can be both validated and challenged by liturgical and sacramental structures. The article ends with some brief suggestions for using and shifting liturgical structures to better facilitate the Christian conversion of consumerism.

This study critically examines some traditional methods in liturgical theology. The author argues that liturgy is as much a human artefact as a divine creation, and therefore that liturgical theology needs to take the fruits of historical research and the insights offered by the social sciences much more seriously than it has generally done. He also rejects the notion that there is a single theological meaning within every liturgical act which can be read out of it as a doctrinal norm. On the contrary, liturgies are essentially multivalent, and doctrine shapes both the liturgies themselves and people's interpretations of them at least as much as liturgical practice shapes belief.

Liturgy, Gender, and Order: Trinitarian Considerations

Whether the history of Christianity is traced to before, during, or after the birth of Jesus, the Christian faith reached Africa within the first few years of its inception. Both written and oral secular and biblical (both New and Old Testament) sources indicate that vibrant cultural and commercial interactions existed between Israel and the Middle East long before the birth of Christ. The holy family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus sought refuge in Egypt soon after the birth of Jesus, and persons from North African communities were present at the Pentecost event.For a continent that has such foundational significance in Christianity, it is celebratory that we now have a systematic documentation of the history of Christian theology in Africa, thanks to Prof. Elias Kifon Bongmba. This has been long overdue. The handbook is so comprehensive that any reader interested in the development of Africa would find an opportunity to engage this handbook’s adventurous project on theology in Africa, which covers four broad thematic areas.Part 1 on theological method provides the reader with a robust discussion on the sources of theology in Africa, as well as selected methodological approaches to theology in Africa, including a tentative interpretation of the relationship between theology and African philosophy, and on inculturation as an indispensable conceptual resource for rational and authentic exploration, articulation, and practice of various theological themes in Africa today.Part 2 is on theological movements in Africa. It focuses on the need for dialogue between African religions and Christian theology; the revolutionary theology of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, an African feminist movement that actively engages women theologians and questions patriarchal postcolonial hierarchies; an assessment of four waves of Black theology in South Africa; the symbiotic and antagonistic planes of political and public theology in Africa; political theology in Kenya; and the role of faith leaders in promoting social justice.Additionally, part 2 proposes a conceptual shift of African theology from liberation to reconstruction. It also explores the theology of public health, ecumenical theology, theologies of development in the context of poverty, and some initiatives and missed opportunities in theological enterprise after Vatican II with regard to human identity and dignity.Part 3 focuses on specific regional and emergent theologies, including Joseph Wresinski’s theology of faith-based organizations in Africa, the theology of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, ecotheology, evangelical theology, holistic soteriology, narrative theology, postcolonial theology, the theology of African-initiated churches, theologies of sexuality, and the theology of peacemaking in Africa.Finally, part 4 offers seven chapters on biblical and doctrinal theology. The Bible is presented as a great resource for theological reflection, analysis, and articulation in Africa, but with due regard to context. This is illustrated in an analysis of Africa’s response to the Christological and eschatological problems of Christian theology, theology of salvation, patristic ecclesiology, biblical and dogmatic theology, and liturgical theology. All these chapters indicate the importance of context in theology but also the fact that Christ triumphs over all contexts.This is the most comprehensive documentation of Christian theology in Africa. Certainly, it achieves the stated goal of providing a snapshot “of theological adventures in Africa that should serve as a conversation starter and reference work on selected topics in African theology.” Going by this twofold goal, the book was not designed to answer but to raise questions, which it does with abandon, not just in the content but also in the choice of authors. The primary question is the question of identity: Who is a human person? Who is an African? Who is an African Christian? (Or a Christian African?) Even as some of the authors share reflections on some of these questions, the reader is still grappling with them by the end of the book. The handbook also raises questions of theology: What is theology? What is African theology? Is systematic articulation and practice of human response to revealed truths by Africans in their Christian lives best referred to as African theology or African Christian theology or Christian theology in Africa?Similarly, as much as the authors keep emphasizing the universality as well as the contextuality of theology, questions remain on the starting reference point of theology in Africa: Is it Christian history and tradition, or is it African history and traditions? In my reading of the handbook, I hear a resounding “yes and no” response from most of the authors. For me, this raises another question: Don’t indigenous African religions have a theology independent of Christianity? I wouldn’t consider it accurate that “the history of theology in Africa is as old as the Christian tradition.” I suspect that it is much older, older than the name “Africa,” which is itself an imperial enterprise.Still, to suggest that the history of theology in Africa is as old as the Christian tradition may translate to contradicting the decolonizing perspective of the handbook. This takes us back to the question of the definition of African theology, which is seemingly a chicken-and-egg question. Guess what? Such are the limitations of human life, much more of human knowledge—especially with every effort to compartmentalize it.Ultimately, I do not hesitate to endorse this text as a seminal, comprehensive, and authoritative reference material for Christian theology in Africa, an adventure that invites us to respond in both word and deed. We cannot commend the editor and the authors enough.

Book Review: Context and Text: Method in Liturgical Theology

Book Review: Irwin, W. Kevin: <i>Context and Text: A Method for Liturgical Theology</i>

The Catholic Church has long proclaimed the importance of pre-marriage education for the benefit of spouses and of society. It requires that education on the Rite of Marriage be part of the immediate phase of pre-marriage education so that the bridegroom and bride may receive greater benefit from the celebration of the sacrament. The terms ‘sacrament’ and ‘covenant’, which are central to the Church’s teaching on marriage, lack meaning for many Catholics and particularly for the young. The current emphasis on New Evangelization includes a call to find new ways to speak to an increasingly secular society. One challenge facing the Church as it seeks to clarify the meaning of marriage is to develop a new model of pre-marriage education which communicates the Church’s teaching on sacrament and covenant in a manner which speaks clearly and effectively to the culture of today. This thesis develops a new model of pre-marriage education using the method of liturgical theology to identify the fundamental official meanings (theology) of the Rite of Marriage and to compare those meanings with the meanings couples derive from the experience of the rite. This study is limited to the Catholic Rite of Marriage as it is enacted within the Australian context.

This paper investigates the extent to which the application of Ricoeur's hermeneutics according to Joyce Ann Zimmerman can be a method for Liturgical Theology to understand the process of communication of faith during the Liturgy for the Church in the postmodern era. With the need to deepen the interdisciplinary dialogue between liturgy and other branches of science, this paper aims to delineate the point of convergence between Liturgical Theology and hermeneutics to create a more relevant application for Christians today. For this purpose, the methodology used in this paper is a literature study to dialogue Zimmerman’s thoughts with other thinkers focusing on the application of hermeneutics in Liturgical Theology. This paper finds that the application of Ricoeur’s hermeneutics according to Zimmerman can map the linguistic dynamics of liturgical celebrations to enable the transformation of the entire narrative of their life experiences into a narrative of faith. Nevertheless, this method needs to be complemented by the hermeneutics of real dialogical actions with the mystery of God action as a trigger for a deeper transformation of mystical experience in the liturgy towards social ethics. Abstrak Makalah ini mempertanyakan sejauh mana penerapan hermeneutika Ricoeur menurut Joyce Ann Zimmerman bisa menjadi metode bagi Teologi Liturgi untuk memahamai proses komunikasi iman dalam Liturgi di era postmodern. Dengan adanya kebutuhan untuk memperdalam dialog interdisipliner antara liturgi dan cabang-cabang ilmu lainnya, makalah ini bertujuan memperuncing titik temu antara Teologi Liturgi dan hermeneutika demi aplikasi yang lebih relevan bagi umat di masa kini. Metodologi yang digunakan dalam makalah ini adalah studi pustaka dengan mendialogkan pemikiran Zimmerman dengan pemikir-pemikir lainnya yang berfokus pada penerapan hermeneutika di bidang Teologi Liturgi. Ditemukan bahwa penerapan hermeneutika Ricoeur menurut Zimmerman dapat memetakan dinamika linguistik dari perayaan liturgi yang memungkinkan tranformasi seluruh narasi pengalaman hidup mereka menjadi narasi iman. Meski demikian, menurut penulis metode ini perlu dilengkapi dengan hermeneutika tindakan dialogal liturgis konkret dengan misteri ilahi sebagai pemicu transformasi pengalaman mistik dalam liturgi yang lebih mendalam, menuju ke etika sosial. Kata-kata kunci: hermeneutika, dinamika linguistik, partisipasi, distansiasi, apropriasi, pemahaman

Significance and Liturgy: Victoria Welby, Semioethics, and a New Method for Liturgical Theology

[The author examines various trends and methodological developments in African Christian theology, particularly processes of “ordering” and subsequently “disordering” as a particularly African theological method. His framework suggests that colonialists and theologians shared a common purpose, namely ordering, and as a result, theology and colonialism developed related methodologies of ordering knowledge. In the postcolonial era a process of theological disordering is taking place led, among others, by François Kabasele Lumbala and his conception of the body within African liturgical theology.]